Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:58 pm on 1 July 2020.
I would never say that we are planting enough trees, and it is incredibly disappointing to have had last year's figures. But I hope that the policies we're bringing forward, the funding I referred to in my answer to Andrew—that we've increased it fourfold—shows the commitment to doing that. Also, you'll be aware of our agricultural scheme that we will be bringing forward; there's 'Sustainable Farming and our Land'—that has particular focus around planting more trees. So, it's really important that we continue to have those discussions with our farmers to make sure that any barriers—. And I've always found, talking about tree planting to farmers, that they're very keen to find opportunities to be able to help us with our tree-planting targets, but sometimes there have been barriers put in place—with the common agricultural policy, for instance. So, we do have—. There's an opportunity, post-EU transition, to make sure that our new agricultural scheme does support us.
I agree with you about—. We've made it very clear that our recovery from COVID-19 should be a green recovery. And I think using Welsh timber for housing is an area that the Minister for Housing and Local Government is always talking to me about—she wants to see more Welsh timber used. You mentioned all the benefits of producing more timber, so that's an area that, again, we are working on. I also think, on the green recovery, we need to lock in people's behaviours as well. You will have heard me say on previous occasions during the pandemic that we've seen more people cycling and walking, and more people working from home, and that's helped us reduce our carbon emissions and we need to lock in that behaviour. So, I outlined various schemes that we're bringing forward and significant funding to enable that to happen.